Ms. Sharron Smalls

Introduction:

¥ The era of Mao Zedong was marred by policies to transform China into a Communist nation and combat social and economic problems faced by its people. One cause of China’s problems was China’s growing population, which stands at 1.3 billion people. Mao’s Communist government attempted to control China’s population growth with policies such as ‘one child per family’ policy. However, this policy has had detrimental effects that still affect the people of China today.

Task:

Groups will determine whether if Mao’s policy was successful in decreasing China’s population growth. In addition, each group will give an oral presentation on a current issue that is a result of the policy. To do so, students will follow the six-step public policy approach below:

· Identify Problem

• Gather the Evidence
• Determine Causes
• Evaluate the Policy
• Do a Comparative Analysis

The Process:

¥ Each group will be assigned to write a three page paper that will investigate economic and social factors that caused China’s population problem and describe how Mao implemented the one child per family policy to combat the problem.

¥ Groups will create and present a statistical graph or chart that plots the growth of China’s population during a ten year period during Mao’s rule.

¥ Students will give an oral presentation on a current problem China faces that is a by-product of Mao’s policy. Some example issues are listed below and in the Resources section:

· Crime

· Marriage

· Female infanticide

· Child abandonment (orphans)

· Forced abortions

Resources:

The following will link to the websites useful for research:

· Child abandonment

· China Today

· Crime

· Marriage

· One-child policy

· Population

· Statistics

The following search engines will also guide you to more websites that will provide information needed for the project:

· www.google.com

· www.askjeeves.com

· www.dogpile.com

Other Sources of current events:

“ NY Times

“ China Daily

“ The good old fashion textbook

Evaluation:

Your written presentation will be evaluated on a group basis. Each individual will receive the same evaluation as the group.

You will be evaluated based on the rubric chart below for your written report:

	UNACCEPTABLE	NEEDS IMPROVEMENT	SATISFACTORY	EXEMPLARY
Quality of information	Inaccurate Information	General information Use one specific example Has a vague understanding of the issue	Accurate information. Use one specific example.	Accurate information Use two or more specific examples
Accuracy	Serious grammatical Errors	A few serious errors	Few spelling Mistakes	Grammatically perfect
Format	No format Followed	A format is followed	A general format is followed	Format is followed Perfectly

RUBRIC FOR ORAL PRESENTATION

Category	Not Acceptable				Exemplary
Originality	1	2	3	4	5
Facts Used	1	2	3	4	5
Use of Technology	1	2	3	4	5
Accuracy of Information	1	2	3	4	5
Interactivity	1	2	3	4	5
Following Prescribed Format	1	2	3	4	5

STANDARDS:

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Standard 2:   World History
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 3: Geography
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the geography of the interdependent world in which we live—local, national, and global—including the distribution of people, places, and environments over the Earth’s surface.

LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS

Standard 1:   Language for Information and Understanding
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

Standard 3:   Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

Standard 4:   Language for Social Interaction
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people.

CONCLUSION:

Students investigated how Mao Zedong proposed and implemented the policy to combat China’s population problem. Through research of the problem, the policy created, and statistical data, you have determined the effectiveness of Mao’s ‘solution’. In research of current events, an oral report is presented to assess how this policy caused social and economic problems China faces today.